LITMIR.BIZ

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he said to Colton. “Let me guess. Your favorite pizza is—” he put a finger to his lips and feigned thought “—pepperoni.”

      Mac gave Luke a gentle slug. “Everyone loves pepperoni.”

      “Well, everyone in our family does.” Luke arched a brow in Colton’s direction. Outside, rain began to fall in a curtain. In seconds the sunny day turned gray, and the pavement was speckled with fast-forming puddles. “Am I right?”

      Colton grinned. “Yup. Though the real question, and the one that determines if we’re brothers is...” He glanced at Luke and Mac. “Red Sox or Yankees?”

      “Oooh, them’s fightin’ words,” Luke said. “Everybody with a brain knows the Yankees are the only team worth cheering for.”

      Mac scoffed. “And that’s why I’m the smart one. The Red Sox are the best ball team. Hands down.”

      Luke and Mac turned to Colton. “Fess up. Which one do you root for?”

      Colton started to answer when the door to the diner opened and Rachel walked in. She was wearing a pale yellow sundress and her hair was tied back in a ponytail. She shook off the rain, brushing the drops off her bare arms. Even damp from getting caught in the storm, she looked...fun. Like something he’d been looking for and didn’t know he wanted to find until he saw it. “I’ll be back in a second.”

      He heard his brothers’ laughter as he left the table and went over to Rachel. She was just slipping onto one of the counter stools when he reached her and dropped into the empty seat beside her. “Good morning.”

      She turned to him with a slight lilt of surprise in her brows and a smile toying with the edge of her lips. “Good morning. You seem to be everywhere I go lately.”

      He put up his hands. “I swear, I’m not stalking you.”

      She laughed. He liked her laugh. It was light, airy, sweet. “It’s okay. Sometimes living here feels like living in a circle. I run into the same people, at the same time, in the same places.”

      “That’s the complete opposite of Atlanta. Outside of work, I rarely run into people I know. It’s kind of like being invisible.”

      “And do you like that?”

      “I don’t know. I haven’t lived anywhere else before. So I guess I don’t know what I really want or like in a place to live. I do know that it’s nice to be in a place where life is a little slower. I feel like I can...” He shook his head. “God, I’m going to sound all sentimental if I say this.”

      “Say what?”

      She seemed so interested that he figured even if he did sound like a total dork, it would be okay. “Here, I feel like I can stop and smell the roses.” He chuckled. “Seriously, I’m not normally this sappy. Must be the rain.”

      “Or maybe Stone Gap is rubbing off on you. Before you know it, you’ll be taking the chief’s job offer and buying a house.”

      “How do you know Harry offered me a job?”

      “It’s a small town, Colton, remember?” She grinned. He liked her smile. Liked it a lot. A part of him ached to reach out and trace the sweet curve of her lips. “Word spreads, especially when there’s a hot eligible firefighter in town.”

      He grinned. “You think I’m hot and eligible?”

      A faint blush filled her cheeks. “Well, people think you are. That’s what I hear.”

      He wanted to know if she was one of those people. If she wanted to kiss him even half as bad as he wanted to kiss her. He wanted to see her again, wanted to spend a long, lazy afternoon with her. He fished in his pocket and pulled out a coin. “Here,” he said, taking her hand and dropping it into her palm.

      She gave him a grin. “What’s this for?”

      “Prepayment for the twenty-five-cent tour of Stone Gap.”

      Rachel laughed and started to hand back the coin. “That was just a joke. And I really am swamped right now. I don’t think I even have time for the nickel tour.”

      He closed his hand over hers. “Keep it. And if a hole opens up in your schedule, I’d love to see Stone Gap from your perspective.”

      Electricity arced in the space between them. It was only a quarter, and a simple touch of hands, but Colton could swear he felt the same current from her. Rachel’s eyes widened, and she glanced down at their joined hands, then pulled hers away. She didn’t try to give back the quarter again, and he took that as a good sign.

      “So, you’re, ah, here with Luke and Mac? Is Jack still on his honeymoon?” she said as the waitress deposited a cup of coffee before her. Changing the subject, but still talking to him. Another good sign.

      “Yes and yes. The three of us were grabbing breakfast.” He glanced over his shoulder at his brothers. Luke arched a brow and shot him a grin. Mac was busy on his phone, probably working.

      If Colton lived here, he’d probably see the three other Barlow boys a lot more often. That would be nice. Real nice.

      As for his father...that was a work in progress. Somehow, Colton had had this crazy idea that everything would be good just because their first meeting went well. But his father hadn’t been as warm and welcoming as his brothers had been, and Colton wasn’t quite sure if he should continue to reach out or just let it go. Either way, it hurt, even if he was too damned old to care whether his daddy loved him.

      Living here would mean seeing Bobby around town, too. That might not be such a benefit, given the rocky road they were on right now.

      “As much as I complain about living in a circle and running into people I know everywhere I go, life here...grows on you,” Rachel said, her voice soft and sweet. “It sounds like something from a Hallmark card, but living in a small town is like having a houseful of your favorite family and friends. They’ll get on your nerves from time to time, but you’re also so glad to see all those friendly faces whenever life gets tough.” She ran a finger along the rim of her coffee cup, her eyes downcast, her voice even softer now. “When my mom died, it was the people of this town who helped me keep the shop running, and they’ve been the biggest supporters I could ask for. People keep trying to help my dad, too, but he’s...stubborn.”

      Colton chuckled. “I think we all know someone like that. My mom is a stubborn woman, too. She...does things the way she wants to do them when she wants to do them.” That was probably the nicest way he could say that his mother had been mostly consumed with her own life, leaving him and Katie to fend for themselves more often than not.

      “You said you’re their half brother. So you’re not... Della’s son?”

      Even though Colton was old enough that he shouldn’t care what people thought about how he was conceived, that didn’t stop a little hesitation in his answer. He wondered if maybe Bobby was dealing with similar reactions to Colton’s arrival. “No, I’m not. My father met my mother when he was working in Atlanta.”

      No need to divulge the family history that he had been the product of a brief affair. The Barlows were well loved in this town, and his conception had been more than thirty years ago. Ancient history that didn’t need to be dragged forward. Colton was a man who much preferred to live in the present.

      “How long have you known the rest of the Barlows?” Rachel asked.

      “I just met them a couple weeks ago. I didn’t know about any of them until now.” He glanced over at Luke and Mac, who were grinning at him like a couple of fools. Clearly, there was going to be merciless teasing when he returned to the table. Which he should have done a long time ago, but he really liked talking to Rachel. Watching her smile, the way that gesture lit her eyes and brightened her face.

      “Wow. That’s a lot to digest in such a short time frame. No wonder you seemed a little...discombobulated when you came in the shop.”

      He

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